South Beach man faces deportation

South Beach man faces deportation to his native India after a justice sentenced him to three years in prison for a felony drug conviction.

Last month, a jury in state Supreme Court, St. George, convicted Ahmed Rasheed of three felony counts of drug possession and other crimes stemming from a June 30, 2010, arrest in his home.

A Staten Island judge imposed sentence on Friday.

Police said the episode was set in motion when Rasheed threatened a male relative and female relative in his seventh-floor apartment on Capodanno Boulevard.

"I'm going to kill you," he said to the male, while telling the female, "I'm going to shoot you."

When cops arrived, they found a loaded gun in a bag alongside a large bag of marijuana, court papers allege. They also discovered several smaller bags of marijuana and crack cocaine and seven oxycodone pills on Rasheed's person, court papers stated.

Officers found another 68 oxycodone pills in a suitcase and 81 Percocet pills in a jacket in a closet, court documents said.

It was revealed at trial that Rasheed boasted of his drug sales and the cash he made from them in a recorded jailhouse telephone conversation, prosecutors said. Rasheed, a native of India, spoke in the Urdu language during the call, according to a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

Besides the felony drug convictions, Rasheed was found guilty of misdemeanor marijuana and criminal-contempt charges, along with a lesser count of harassment. He was acquitted on three felony gun-possession counts.

The criminal contempt charges were levied because Rasheed had violated a court order by trying to contact his wife, via letter, from jail, prosecutors said.

The top gun charges of which he was acquitted carry a maximum sentence of 15 years behind bars. The minimum is three and a half years.

Rasheed's lawyer, Mark J. Fonte said his client's is "extremely happy" he was acquitted on all weapons charges.

"This increases the chances that he will not be deported," Fonte said on Friday.

However, Donovan's spokesman, Peter N. Spencer, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will take custody of Rasheed, who has a prior conviction, after he serves his sentence. He'll very likely be deported afterward.